Since it is too cold to sprout seed in the chicken runs, I put out a bucketful of straw and threw in some scratch to give the chickens something new to do. Oh did they have fun! By the end of the day, all straw was evenly distributed in the run.
I had some shredded Romaine lettuce left over from Taco Tuesday (it really needs the capitals in our house), and wanted to feed it to the chickens. My rope net bag’s holes were too big, and I really don’t like throwing it down on the ground. But I do have some scrap and stained lace doilies. I ran a ribbon through the edge of a stained doily and made a small bag. The holes in the tatted lace were small enough to hold the shredded lettuce, but large enough for the chickens to get pieces out.
They are French hens, it seems appropriate to have fancy feeders.
I bought a kitchen sprouter. The mason jars were working OK, but I had one go moldy so decided to upgrade.
I followed the directions, and put the sprouter by the LED grow lights. After about a week I had sprouts large enough to feed the chickens! I transferred some to a flat container and the chickens loved it.
The chickens have some competition for the sprouts, though. I forgot how good alfalfa sprouts taste!
My eldest gave me treat balls for the chickens for the holidays. I filled them with scratch and it didn’t take long for the chickens to have at them!
My chickens ate a pumpkin down to the stem. I’m most impressed that the stem was still tied to the branch. They have eaten other pumpkin stems enough to drop the pumpkin off the cord. This pumpkin had a soft spot on the side of the bottom that I cut out, and thus provided access to the pumpkin flesh. This method was so successful, I cut the next pumpkin in a similar manner.
The chickens don’t consume pumpkin as fast as red cabbage, so I do check for mold growth. After about a week I usually remove the remains.
Critters and Craft 